It was 17-0 in the fourth quarter when Lawrence Timmons smothered Jason Campbell for a sack with the Browns backed up to the Ohio River. Punt.

As Pittsburgh drove for more points, rookie No. 6 overall pick Barkevious Mingo stood on the sideline with his hands on his hips. Wide receiver Greg Little sat perfectly still on a heated bench, an orange coat draped over his legs, not watching the game.

Players who had seldom seen the field in 2013 populated formations as the dreadful exercise played out.

Not even Pittsburgh fans saw any point. About 50,000 showed up for the early part of the rain-soaked battle. Perhaps 25,000 remained midway through the fourth quarter.

A glum season in a grim era eventually ended with a 20-7 loss and a 4-12 record.

"Difficult day, difficult season," said head coach Rob Chudzinski, who late Sunday was fired by the team.

Chudzinski's year ground to a halt 364 days after a 24-10 loss at Pittsburgh ended Pat Shurmur's employment. Shurmur's 2012 Browns went 5-11, a game better than "Chud's" first and only edition.

Tight end Jordan Cameron, one of five Browns going to the Pro Bowl, thought there would be a second edition.

"I'd be shocked (if Chudzinski got fired)," Cameron said. "I'm all for Chud. I support him 100 percent."

Gordon played with the stomach flu. Perhaps because expectations were low, with the team ending in a 1-10 tailspin, the game seemed sickly. The Browns actually led in total yards, 293-292, but never seemed in the game.

"A lot of guys were able to get opportunities to play," said Chudzinski — he was facing a team still in a playoff hunt while test driving injury replacements. "We weren't able to get the job done.

"I thought the guys wanted the game badly. We all did."

After falling to 1-7 as this year's most-used starting quarterback, Campbell said it was "super hard" to go out the way the team did.

"The guys were putting the effort out there to win, but we weren't getting results at the end," said

Campbell.

The Steelers were favored by 7 and were up 7-0 right away. After the Browns went three-and-out, Ben Roethlisberger drove Pittsburgh 62 yards for a touchdown.